The evidence and accompanying testimony continues to pile up against Manafort. I know the defense hoped to pin everything on Gates, but unfortunately for them, there are mountains of documents and evidence connecting Manafort directly to all of these crimes.

Prosecutors used Peggy Miceli, an underwriting manager for Citizens Bank, to describe just how much more money Paul Manafort secured when he told a bank that a SoHo condo he listed on Airbnb was his family’s “second home.”

Under Citizens Bank policy, he would never have gotten more than a $1 million loan if the underwriters had known the condo rented out more than 180 days in a year — effectively being used as an investment property. He also would have faced a steeper interest rate on the loan.

The exceptions to the $1 million loan maximum were “far and few between,” Miceli added.
Instead, Manafort received a $3.4 million loan from Citizens Bank in 2016. That was “way over the max,” Miceli said.

At one point, Miceli read the jury an email she wrote in February 2016 to others within Citizens Bank, saying that Manafort’s business didn’t have the funds to get the money he sought.

The email ended with her writing “.” That’s “the sad face,” she explained to the jury.

**Miceli then received a doctored letter from Manafort’s Cypriot shell company Peranova and from his accounting firm, saying a $1.5 million loan was forgiven. **

Miceli approved the $3.4 million loan.

When asked if she would have wanted to know if the accountant sent false information or if Manafort controlled the company Peranova, she first said “yes,” stretching out the word for emphasis, then said "absolutely."

Prosecutors revealed in court Friday an email Paul Manafort sent to his then-son-in-law Jeff Yohai as he sought to cover up that a Soho condo he owned was rented out instead of lived-in.

Manafort needed an independent appraiser in early 2016 to confirm for a bank looking into the property that the condo was a residence.

He directed Yohai to meet with the appraiser, according to the January 2016 email.

“Remember, he believes that you and Jessica are living there,” Manafort wrote, referring to Yohai’s then-wife, Manafort’s daughter Jessica.
Melinda James, mortgage loan assistant at Citizens Bank, finished testifying shortly after noon, after both defense attorney Jay Nanavati and prosecutor Uzo Asonye had her revisit her timeline of emails and phone calls leading up to Manafort closing a $3.4 million mortgage.

Looks like we finally have an answer as to why Prosecutors objected to the Manafort’s defense team line of questioning regarding Gates’ time on the Trump team. Gates is apparently also involved as a witness for them in the ongoing investigation of the Trump campaign. It will be interesting to eventually know what all he confessed to having knowledge about, with respect to his time on the campaign and transition.

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team told the court they want to keep a discussion regarding Rick Gates secret because releasing the transcript of the conversation would “reveal details of the ongoing investigation.”

The discussion took place Tuesday afternoon and involved the trial attorneys and Judge T.S. Ellis.

The still-secret conversation occurred in the middle of former Trump deputy campaign chairman Rick Gates’ testimony against his longtime boss Paul Manafort.

Defense attorney Kevin Downing asked Gates: “Were you interviewed on several occasions about your time at the Trump campaign?”

Prosecutor Greg Andres objected to the question before Gates could answer.

The lawyers and Ellis then huddled in the far corner of the courtroom to discuss whether the question could be asked. The overhead noise machine was turned on so that Gates, the jury and the public in the courtroom couldn’t hear what they said.

Ellis called for a break in the proceedings immediately after the short discussion ended, and Downing tried to ask about the Trump campaign investigation again.

During the discussion, the prosecutors now say they discussed “new” details about their “ongoing criminal investigation” into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible coordination with the Trump campaign.
Gates is required to help with that investigation as needed and with the prosecution of Manafort, per his plea agreement.

Gates testified for three days against Manafort this week.

“Disclosing the identified transcript portions would reveal substantive evidence pertaining to an ongoing investigation … In addition, sealing will minimize any risk of prejudice from the disclosure of new information relating to that ongoing investigation,” the special counsel’s team wrote.

“The government’s concerns would continue until the relevant aspect of the investigation is revealed publicly, if that were to occur,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing Thursday.

Prosecutors revealed in court Friday an email Paul Manafort sent to his then-son-in-law Jeff Yohai as he sought to cover up that a Soho condo he owned was rented out instead of lived-in.

Manafort needed an independent appraiser in early 2016 to confirm for a bank looking into the property that the condo was a residence.

He directed Yohai to meet with the appraiser, according to the January 2016 email.

“Remember, he believes that you and Jessica are living there,” Manafort wrote, referring to Yohai’s then-wife, Manafort’s daughter Jessica.
Melinda James, mortgage loan assistant at Citizens Bank, finished testifying shortly after noon, after both defense attorney Jay Nanavati and prosecutor Uzo Asonye had her revisit her timeline of emails and phone calls leading up to Manafort closing a $3.4 million mortgage.

what must it be like to be the children of these con men, liars and grifters? my mom would actively try to find her employees a job with other companies if she every had to lay anyone off for god’s sake. i can’t imagine growing up in the opposite environment (where lying and cheating and breaking laws is the norm).

what must it be like to be the children of these con men, liars and grifters? my mom would actively try to find her employees a job with other companies if she every had to lay anyone off for god’s sake. i can’t imagine growing up in the opposite environment (where lying and cheating and breaking laws is the norm).

We can always look to Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump to see how the children turn out themselves.

But yeah, I cannot even begin to imagine having to live with the knowledge of what despicable scum of the earth types one of my own parents were. It has got to take a serious mental and emotional toll on someone.

Looks like we finally have an answer as to why Prosecutors objected to the Manafort’s defense team line of questioning regarding Gates’ time on the Trump team. Gates is apparently also involved as a witness for them in the ongoing investigation of the Trump campaign. It will be interesting to eventually know what all he confessed to having knowledge about, with respect to his time on the campaign and transition.

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team told the court they want to keep a discussion regarding Rick Gates secret because releasing the transcript of the conversation would “reveal details of the ongoing investigation.”

The discussion took place Tuesday afternoon and involved the trial attorneys and Judge T.S. Ellis.

The still-secret conversation occurred in the middle of former Trump deputy campaign chairman Rick Gates’ testimony against his longtime boss Paul Manafort.

Defense attorney Kevin Downing asked Gates: “Were you interviewed on several occasions about your time at the Trump campaign?”

Prosecutor Greg Andres objected to the question before Gates could answer.

The lawyers and Ellis then huddled in the far corner of the courtroom to discuss whether the question could be asked. The overhead noise machine was turned on so that Gates, the jury and the public in the courtroom couldn’t hear what they said.

Ellis called for a break in the proceedings immediately after the short discussion ended, and Downing tried to ask about the Trump campaign investigation again.

During the discussion, the prosecutors now say they discussed “new” details about their “ongoing criminal investigation” into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible coordination with the Trump campaign.
Gates is required to help with that investigation as needed and with the prosecution of Manafort, per his plea agreement.

Gates testified for three days against Manafort this week.

“Disclosing the identified transcript portions would reveal substantive evidence pertaining to an ongoing investigation … In addition, sealing will minimize any risk of prejudice from the disclosure of new information relating to that ongoing investigation,” the special counsel’s team wrote.

“The government’s concerns would continue until the relevant aspect of the investigation is revealed publicly, if that were to occur,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing Thursday.

Well, I didn’t see that coming.

I figured at the time that the prosecution didn’t want the subject to come up because they’d already been spanked by the judge about the relevance of this case to the overall investigation and figured any line of questioning by the defense on that line would just give the judge more opportunity.

We’ll be seeing more of Rick Gates on the other side of him having placed his hand on a Bible, for sure.

Mueller Prosecutor Greg Andres was crying court today, and judge ellis told him there will be no crying in my courtroom! HAHA! What a bunch of snowflakes!

Attreyu:

HAHA hear the news about the Mueller team crying in the courtroom today?

You must have missed this today. In fact I’m sure you ignored it since it didn’t fit your narrative.

The federal judge overseeing the Paul Manafort trial conceded Thursday morning that he made a mistake in chastising special counsel Robert Mueller’s prosecutors a day earlier in front of the jury.

Addressing the jurors before prosecutors called their first witness of the day, U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis said he “may well have been wrong” on Wednesday when he slammed the Mueller team for allowing an expert witness from the IRS to remain in the courtroom while other witnesses were testifying.

Typically, witnesses aren’t supposed to hear anyone else’s testimony in a trial so they don’t influence each other, but Mueller’s team got Ellis’ permission during the trial’s opening arguments last week to have the IRS agent in the court on a regular basis.

“This robe doesn’t make me anything other than human,” Ellis told the court on Thursday morning after instructing the jury to forget what he had said to the Mueller team about the IRS witness. “You’ve got to put that aside.”